tonight on "nightline," pawn stars. with the economy in dire straits, many americans are scrambling to raise cash, and for pawnshops, at least, that means big business. we go inside the famed pawnshop on las vegas boulevard that inspired a hit cable tv show. lost in translation. a shocking proportion of the translators working with u.s. forces in afghanistan can't speak the local language. a whistle blower says. is their employer defrauding america and putting lives at

risk? it's a "nightline" investigation. and, fighting words? with tensions high over the possible burning of the koran and fears about islam, deepak chopra weighs in. we ask him about his eyebr eyebrow-raising new book. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city, and terry moran in washington, this is "nightline," september 8th, 2010. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. and, with economic indicators, political polls continuing to bring bad news for president obama and the democrats, the president's hitting the road these dames to rally support for his agenda. the debate turns on tax cuts, transportation spending and subsidies for small business to take effect in the years ahead. but meanwhile, many americans find themselves with a more immediate consideration. cash. so, tonight, brian rooney takes us to one colorful place people go to grease the skids.

>> rust? >> a little bit of rust around the back window. >> reporter: we metric in a las vegas subdivision, kicking the tires on a 1962 cadillac fleet wood he was considering buying. >> nice. >> reporter: the owner sees a big payday. >> i think it's got to be worth, after it is fixed up, $15,000. i'd like to get between five and eight out of this. >> reporter: but if there's a flaw, rick will find it. >> this ain't going to sell, you know? >> reporter: the whole negotiations happens under the skritny of television cameras. >> i'm rick, and this is my pawnshop. >> reporter: rick runs the famed gold and silver pawnshop on las vegas boulevard. his shop and family are the focus of one of the top rated shows on cable television. the history channel's "pawn stars." he's not just some guy running a seedy pawnshop. he's a star. they buy people's gold rings,

art work, antique guns. or loan money on items put up for collateral. and who knew that the workings of a pawnshop could be so entertaining? >> i have something that you might be interested in. >> i have a flask. not just any flask. >> reporter: central casting couldn't have found these guys. that's rick's son cory. >> to be honest with you, chief, i could offer you 100 bucks, man. >> reporter: his father richard is the crusty founder. >> in the economy right now. >> reporter: and their employee chumle is the foil. >> how is it going? >> fine. i have a print i'd like you to take a look at. >> from the adams family? >> a different adams family. >> reporter: their show is part of the trans formation of the history channel, from gainny war document rips to reality shows like "ice road truckers" and

"top shot." so, these days, the pawn stars can hardly walk the floor of their own shop. you walk on the shop floor and it's a -- it's like angelina jolie walked in. all these flash cameras. >> yeah, it's a lot harder to run mip business. >> look, there they are, over there, they're watching us talk. that's your public. >> that's my public. why everyone loves me so much, i don't know, i mean, i'm just a normal guy. >> reporter: no, you're not. >> so what do you think? >> reporter: he is a master negotiator. >> i would pay you half that. >> well, they're original signed. >> give you 50 bucks for it. >> reporter: right away, you say, i don't know, it's got a scratch on it. >> but i am, you know, i explain exactly why i'm paying what i'm paying. >> reporter: look at my watch. >> okay.

>> reporter: what do you think? >> um -- i'll give you $1,700. >> reporter: well, my wife gave it to me. it's got a lot of sentimental value. >> that means nothing to me. >> reporter: these are guys who now low to sell a $1 bill for ten. some bizarre stuff comes through the door. dueling miss or thes. a world war ii kit for training soldiers to recognize japanese land mines. >> never once in the history of the store have someone come in and ask for a japanese mine training kit. >> reporter: the man with the battered photograph. >> it says, photographed in yosemite by ansel adams. >> reporter: i'm amazed at the number of things you're familiar with. >> i'm really not cool. i'm a bookworm. i'm a bookworm. i read for hours every night. little bit of everything in here. that's a spoon off the

lusitania. broncos super bowl ring. did we sell the world series ring the other day? >> reporter: look around the shop, and you can see objects they bought on previous shows the framed flag that flew on the moon. >> $4,000 for it. >> reporter: you're listing it for ten. >> yeah. because this is a pawnshop and no one is going to come in here and pay me what i'm asking. they never do. >> reporter: when it's 100 degrees outside, there's a line of fans waiting to get in. >> this is our third time here. we came to see up. >> reporter: every once in awhile, the pawn stars have to come out on the floor for pictures with fans. >> they're not movie stars. >> just coming up to them, i start sweating. >> reporter: for a minute, did you think you were going to be a guy who has fans? >> you know, it's crazy what happens. i never imagined it. >> reporter: though it is a pawnshop, you're not likely to see any pawning of the family jewelry on tv. people are shy about that.

but the back rooms are filled with pawns. computers, golf clubs. >> motorcycles. seems like before the recession here, everybody that refinanced their house went out and bought a harley. >> reporter: it's a mirror of the economy. >> all the construction stopped here in this town, and i ended up, i've got storage lockers filled with construction tools right now. i couldn't give them away. >> reporter: their rate of default has doubled from 10% to 20%. a sign that people are hurting. the old man says it's bad out there. >> we're in trouble. the economy is not doing good. i don't care what statistics they kick out there. it's going to take another five, ten years for us to come back. >> reporter: but it's still good for the pawn stars. the shop has nearly quadrupled its staff. >> we figure we do the reality show, get one, two years out of it. we go back to being a pawnshop. it ain't working that way. >> reporter: do you like it or -- >> well, like i say, be careful

what you wish for. at times, i want to kick them all out of here and go back to like it was. >> reporter: that won't happen soon. the harrisons are prospering with the art of the deal. >> how much you want for it? >> 500. >> dollars? >> yeah. 250. >> final offer? >> final offer. >> reporter: back out there in the desert, rick is letting the owner of that cadillac bake a little in the sun. >> my big concern with this thing is, how much is it going to be to fix it? >> reporter: however this comes out, you can bet it's going to put a dent in the owner's expectations, and just make the pawn stars a little more popular. this is brian rooney for "nightline" in las vegas. >> and "pawn stars" airs monday nights on the history channel. thanks to brian rooney for that. when we come back, we're going to turn the page here. translators hired by the u.s. military who can't actually speak the language.

we investigate one whittle blower's startling report. stle blower's startling report. hey what's going on? doing the shipping. man, it would be a lot easier if we didn't have to weigh 'em all. if those boxes are under 70 lbs. you don't have to weigh 'em. with these priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate. no weigh? nope. no way. yeah. no weigh? sure. no way! uh-uh. no way. yes way, no weigh. priority mail flat rate box shipping starts at $4.95, only from the postal service. a simpler way to ship.

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for u.s. soldiers going village to village in afghanistan, communication, understanding and being understood can mean the differences between life and death. often the crucial job of preserving understanding falls to a field interpreter. but what if that interpreter can't hold up both sides of the conversation?

brian ross has our report. >> reporter: terry, the u.s. army relies heavily on private contractors for a long list of essential items in afghanistan, including its interpreters, or terps, as they are called in the field. and now a whistle-blower has come forward with allegations in a lawsuit that one of the american companies providing the terps has been falsifying language skill tests, knowingly sending incompetent trans lay or thes into the field, where a failure to communicate can have tragic consequences. 73rd air boesh, on patrol in afghanistan. trying to track the source of a taliban rocket attack. the mission will end in a complete failure to communicate, because of one member of the team. its translator, the man on the right. a british journalist caught it all on tape, as the patrol sergeant uses his interpreter to ask about the taliban. >> all right. tell him how have things been

here? >> reporter: but the translator items the sergeant the opposite thing. >> we have fine. we have no problems here. a common problem, according to army veterans. >> with my background in pashto, there were many times that i would know instantly that he wasn't communicating what i had just said. >> reporter: this sergeant says there are plenty of good translators, but still, too many bad ones. >> people who claim to speak the language don't, and when things get a little bit complicated, they're not able to communicate effectively with the locals and get the information that we need. >> reporter: and some afghan officials say they are just as

disgusted with the army's translators. >> it's a combination of lack of understanding, not enough command of the language and also not enough information about the regions that they operate in. and i think the recruitment process has to fix those problems. >> reporter: most of the army's afghan translators, though not the one of the british tape, are recruited by mission essential personnel, based in columbus, ohio and suburban washington. >> you can do something for your country. >> reporter: the company runs tv ads to recruit translators. under an army contract worth up to $1.4 billion. the more they recruit, the more they make. the company has received outstanding performance ratings from the government and its ceo testified in july, the company has been hugely successful in finding enough qualified translators. >> mep was able to achieve a 97% fill rate of the government's requirement for linguists. previous contractors never

exceeded 43%. mep provides quality service to its customers. >> reporter: but a former quality control official at the company, paul funk, says mep's claim of success has been based on fraud and cheating, that at least a fourth of the translators sent to afghanistan failed to hit the marks required on language tests. >> i determined that someone, and i didn't know at that time, was changing the grades from blanks or zeros to passing grading. >> reporter: in a lawsuit filed last year, but unsealed only recently, funk alleges the company has defrauded taxpayers, and included what he says was a company list of translators who were passed, though they failed to get the required score of four on the one through five language tests. three should mean failure under the army contract. but funk says that did not happen. >> they were deployed. >> reporter: the company says funk resigned after questions

about financial improprieties involving not him or his office. funk says he was pushed out when he tried to blow the whistle on what he calls the cheating. >> my job as gate keeper was to make absolutely sure that the girments of the contract were complied with, before they deployed. i brought this to everybody's attention and i was forced out. >> reporter: the company says funk's lawsuit is without merit and should be dismissed. but says it cannot comment on funk's specific allegations because of the pending court case. >> i did not set out to have a lawsuit. i set out to get this squared away. >> reporter: the buildup of u.s. troops in afghanistan has meant for interpreters are required. those that can do better than the one caught on this tape, which mep says it uses an example of what not to do. here, the elder actually says the taliban are not far away and he would like to cooperate with the u.s., but it is very dangerous. none of that is translated to the patrol, and then everything

falls apart when the translator seems to just make up an answer to a critical question. >> when was the last time i saw him? >> i ask him, he says one year ago. >> oh, for [ bleep ] sake, ared you kidding me? tell him he's full of [ bleep ], first of all. one week ago, we took four rockets from a hill top 800 meters from here. they didn't see that? didn't hear it? >> reporter: the army patrol leaves, with each side angry at the other, never realizing what was lost in translation. >> i hate these people, sir. they give me wrong answer. >> i [ bleep ] hate this town. >> reporter: the translators can earn up to $210,000 a year, and the company says it does regu r regularly catch people trying to cheat on the language test, but before they are deployed. as for the army, an official told us that a fraud investigation is now under way and therefore, the defense

department cannot comment on the case. terry? >> a very serious problem there. thanks, brian ross, for that report. up next, we're going to talk with deepak chopra about his new book, a life of the prophet mohamed that doesn't shy away from the vivid details. welcome to the world of lovaza, where nature meets science. if you have high cholesterol, high blood pressure or diabetes, you may also have very high triglycerides -- too much fat in the blood. it's a serious medical condition. lovaza, along with diet, effectively lowers very high triglycerides in adults but has not been shown to prevent heart attacks or strokes. lovaza starts with omega-3 fish oil that's then purified and concentrated. it's the only omega-3 medication that's fda-approved. you can't get it at a health food store. lovaza isn't right for everyone. tell your doctor if you're allergic to fish, have other medical conditions and about any medications you're taking,

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ask your doctor about lovaza, i think it's great how they put politics above my chi education. it's cool how the union makes it almo impossible to fire bad teachers. it's impressive how my dues money supports politicians i don't even like. dcchers union has failed our kids, played politics, and now is threatening to file a lawsuit to block recent progress. find out more at teachersunionexposed.com/dc. thanks, teachers unions. >> announcer: "nightline" continues from washington with terry moran. a preacher threatening to burn the koran. an islamic center near ground see rowe. and an attack on a muslim cabbie.

the tensions are swirling at the ninth anniversary of 9/11 draws near. now the self-help guru deepak chopra steps in with a fictionalized biography of the prophet mohamed. dan harris asks chopra about his book in tonight's "nightline" interview. >> reporter: as the country is embroiled in debates over the burning of the koran and the building of an islamic community center near ground zero, dee pam chopra, who is best known for books about alternative medicine and the mysteries of the cosmos is releasing a novel about the life of the prophet mohamed. this is a sensitive topic to tackle. >> it is. >> reporter: even the cover of the book is making people nervous. it's considered blasphemy to have any picture of -- >> portrait, yes. >> reporter: so the cover of the book, for example -- >> well, the cover is a sill wet of an arab figure in the desert seen from a distance. up to you to decide -- sell e

>> reporter: sellers were nervous about that. >> we got a call to say it would be reconsidered the cover. >> reporter: there is good rrn for concern, given the riots that broke out when a danish cartoonist depicted the prophet. but it's what inside the book that may touch some nerves, especially in the current climate. he tells the story of the middle aged arab merchant who becomes god's messenger and then spreads the faith through inspiration and also through warfare. what are your feelings about him after having spent this muff time with him? >> he strikes me as the most like us. we are full of contradiction. we are full of paradox. he's a warrior prophet. which is not, you know, you have warrior profelts in the old testament, by the way, in fact, you know, when moses asks god to kill all the egyptian children and spare the jews, he's not

being any different. >> reporter: chopra mentions that mohamed murrayed a 6-year-old girl and consummated the marriage when she was 9, though some scholars disagree with that. one of the characters in the book is a jewish scribe, a man who is basically assigned the task of following the prophet around and writing down the things he says. >> the jewish scribe is one of the few imagined characters in the book. >> reporter: did you mean to intimate that you jews could ha had a hand in writing the koran. >> i have wondered about that. it's natural. >> reporter: but it is provocative. >> yeah. i've been careful not to say it in my book. >> reporter: are you worried that people who are devout believers are going to be angry with you? >> if i was really concerned about that, i wouldn't have written the book. i wrote the book after a lot of thought. i wrote the book with deep respect for my muslim friends.

>> reporter: are you at all concerned that somebody could issue a fatwa for you? could call for to be assassinated? >> my family is concerned. my kids are concerned. if that happens, i'll deal with it, and i'll also, if necessary, apologize to those who are offended, because that was not the intention. >> reporter: he says his intention was not to offend, but instead, to only kate. and indeed some liberal muslims are praising his book. there is this debate in the country over whether it's appropriate to build an islamic community center near ground zero. what is your thought on all of this stuff that's simmering in the culture right now? >> we should not get drawn into melodrama or hysteria. we should know the facts. the center is also going to have a memorial for the victims of 9/11. a place for reflection. a place to have interfaith dialogue. it's the kind of thing we should be encouraging.

it's the kind of thing that could have us see another side of islam. >> reporter: chopra says his hope is that a time when passions are running high over islam, he can help create a dialogue. in this environment, which is a little bit toxic, are you worried that perhaps you could give aid and comfort and ammunition to those with whom you disagree, who are venom mousily anti- -- >> living in denial is the worst thing you can do. >> reporter: for "nightline," this is dan harris in new york. >> and chopra's book comes out later this month. the e-book is out right now. thanks to dan harris for that interview. when we come back, the latest on that vow to burn the koran. and that's the subject of tonight's closing argument. first, here's jimmy kimmel, with what's coming up next. >> tonight, kevin nealon, milla joe have vich, lady gaga in meat and music from interpol.

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